Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Secondary Characters

Every week, The Broke and the Bookish hosts Top Ten Tuesday.

This week, the topic is:

Top Ten Favorite Secondary Characters:

1. CooRoo from The Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O'Shea:

CooRoo is the children's guide through the mysterious world of fey,

and I love him to death.

2. Puddeneen from The Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O'Shea:

Puddeneen is a bewildered frog who is put to work by The Morrigan.

3. The Nac Mac Feegle from Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching Series:

There have never been secondary characters that make me laugh so danged much.

Now, you might argue that they're the main characters as well... but really,

these books are about Tiffany, and she is THE main character... so I'm counting the Feegle as supporting cast, HILARIOUS supporting cast.

4. Belen and The Monkeys from Maria V. Snyder's Healer Series:

Ok, time to fess up... it's safe to say that when reading these guilty pleasures (aka, any book written by Maria V. Snyder)... I always seem to like the secondary characters more than the main ones... so I put a few of my favs on this list... but it really counts for every book she writes, LOL.

5. Dog from Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett:

Really... the whole concept is just too funny.

6. Tom Bombadil from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien:

There, I said it, I loved Tom Bombadil...

was I sad they left him out of the movies?

No.

He would have been a bit too wacky for the mood Jackson was setting,

I think, but I still love his character.

7.  Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

What can I say, I love the quirky oddballs :)

8. Mouse from The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher:

Harry's pet Foo Dog... Mouse is just about the coolest dog EVER.

9. Beth from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott:

She was just such a tragic sweetheart, and my favorite sister.

10. Nico di Angelo from The Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan:

I also like the darker characters... lol.

Scent of Magic by Maria V. Snyder

Scent of Magic

Book 2 in the Healer Series

by Maria V. Snyder

I'm confessing right now, these books (as in, ANY Maria V. Snyder book) are my guilty pleasures. Are they the best stories in the world? No. Are the main characters terrible Mary Sues? Yes. But are they fun and fast reads anyways? Hell yes. If you're looking for the most beautiful, amazing fantasy you've ever read, this isn't it. If you're looking for a fun, fast read in which you can sit back and just enjoy a goofy story... this is for you. I would absolutely send these books along and share them with people I know would enjoy them. Are they the people who read things like Tolkien or George R. R. Martin? Abercrombie or Cook? No. Are they the kind of people who enjoy authors like Condie, Meyers and Evonavitch? Yes, and that is not a criticism.

If you have not read TOUCH OF POWER (BOOK 1)

do not read this review, there are spoilers.

Amazon Synopsis:
As the last Healer in the Fifteen Realms, Avry of Kazan is in a unique position: in the minds of friends and foes alike, she no longer exists. Despite her need to prevent the megalomaniacal King Tohon from winning control of the Realms, Avry is also determined to find her sister and repair their estrangement. And she must do it alone, as Kerrick, her partner and sole confidant, returns to Alga to summon his country into battle.

Though she should be in hiding, Avry will do whatever she can to support Tohon's opponents. Including infiltrating a holy army, evading magic sniffers, teaching forest skills to soldiers and figuring out how to stop Tohon's most horrible creations yet: an army of the walking dead—human and animal alike and nearly impossible to defeat.
War is coming and Avry is alone. Unless she figures out how to do the impossible…again.

 Characters:
 Avry: Main character, and as the last line of the the synopsis implies... a bit of a Mary Sue. I have to admit, so far I enjoy Avry... despite Snyder repeatedly writing dreadful Mary Sue girls, they are usually likeable, which is their saving grace. I feel like Avry is a bit more toned down than some of Snyder's other heroines... but then, this is only book 2.

Kerrick: The leading man, Prince of his own realm, mage of the forest and all around smouldering love interest. He's off having adventures of his own this time, and I appreciated the split chapters.
Noelle: Avry's sister, introduced in book 1 as blaming Avry for abandoning her... a big part of Avry's mission in this book is winning back her sister's love.

Tohon: Still a dick.

Ryne: The prince that Avry risked her life for in the last book spends his time earning it this book. Ryne is still a bit of a vague character, but he is likeable.

Belen: Ol' Papa Bear returns and you find yourself enjoying his company once again.

The Monkeys: Now assigned to guard Prince Ryne, the Monkeys really haven't changed... at all.

Ursin: Leader of "The Jumping Jacks", one of Estrid's troup of soldiers, he is the first one that Avry really deals with as she tries to be covert, but he's got a secret of his own that doesn't help her stealthiness at all.

Estrid: Leader of the main army opposing Tohon. She seems fair and intellegent, even if she's got a bit of over the top religious fervor.

Cellina: Tohon's lackey

Noak: Son of the leader of the people from the Wilderness. He takes Kerrick and Danny prisoner. He also has a strange "Winter Magic" that he uses against Kerrick.

Danny: Young boy rescued by Avry in the last book, has healing potential because he survived the Death Lily Toxin. Sneaks along with Kerrick, thus getting Kerrick in a lot of trouble, but proves useful as a non-magical healer, because he wants to follow in Avry's footsteps.

Rakel: Noak's sister, has mysterious "Summer Magic"

Story:
Yet another fun, quick romp through one of Snyder's worlds... this book is a fast read and for the most part, enjoyable.
The book starts out with Avry and Kerrick parting ways. At the end of the first book, we saw Avry survive the "unsurvivable" and learn that the Lilies had more of a part to play than anyone realized. Kerrick is going to reunite with Ryne and get the army moving while Avry is going to find her sister and go undercover in the world, since it's now believed she's dead.
Kerrick ends up in the North, facing an invasion from the Wildmen, and finding out that what he thought to be true might not be.
Avry, on the other hand, takes up her mother's name and becomes a Sergeant in Estrid's army, where she's quickly outed as having magic and being a healer. As is the way with most of Snyder's leading ladies, subtle isn't really her thing.
This story spends a lot of time without a lot of action. There are extensive training sequences, and a lot of "putting the pieces in place", but other than that, not much really happens until the very end. There is a constant referring to the fact that Tohon has *got* to have spies in camp, but no real effort to figure out who they might be. People who were pretty evil in the last book seem a bit distracted in this one, and in general everyone is pretty forgiving of Avry, since they're mainly just glad she's alive (whether because they were her friend, or because she is the last known healer EVER). 
More strange things occur with the lilies, some of which I'm not entirely clear on myself... and then there is "the death". The author kills off a character and I'm going to be honest... I don't understand why. Unless there's going to be some magical resurrection, which I don't think there is. It was just such a pointless death... and I have to wonder, IS there a plan, or did the author just get sick of writing that angle of the plot? It seemed unfinished. Based on reading Snyder's other stories, I could make a comment here... because this is a "death" that she seems to fall back on a lot, to try to really make the reader feel for the main character... but this time I just didn't buy it. It was too ill-placed in the story, too abrupt and really, it made the whole earlier story and anything referencing the relationship just seem like a real waste of my time. In other words, it pissed me off, but not in an "invested, emotional reader" way. More like in a "Wow, what a waste of time" way... and that's never good.
There were also some really, really, really awful cheesy lines. One that comes to mind, "My man has eyes that change colors with the seasons"... or something equally vomit-worthy. This happens a couple of times in the books, and I couldnt' help but thing, "Ew... would Avry really say that? And people didn't laugh at her?" I don't know... it's just over-the-top stuff like that where I really think Snyder is missing the mark on being a great author vs. a guilty pleasure read.

All in all, though, it's still a fun fast read, and I'll be picking up the next one on April 1st. The stories are cute, and the time investment is small, so yeah, despite my grumblings... Snyder is going to win my hard earned dollars in the end, because it's still a fun, fast romp through girlie fantasy fiction. 

It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

Welcome to another edition of "It's Monday, What Are You Reading?"

Click the image above to join in the linky fun!

Well, seeing as how I just picked this book up this morning, and it's one I've been

saying for quite some time, "I'm going to read!"

This week I'm reading:

39 Clues

Book 1:

The Maze of Bones

by Rick Riordan

Amazon Synopsis:

Minutes before she died Grace Cahill changed her will, leaving her decendants an impossible decision: "You have a choice - one million dollars or a clue."

Grace is the last matriarch of the Cahills, the world's most powerful family. Everyone from Napoleon to Houdini is related to the Cahills, yet the source of the family power is lost. 39 clues hidden around the world will reveal the family's secret, but no one has been able to assemble them. Now the clues race is on, and young Amy and Dan must decide what's important: hunting clues or uncovering what REALLY happened to their parents. 

I've been curious about this series for a while, and *really* wanted to start reading it when I learned that Rick Riordan wrote the first one... so, here goes nothing!

What did I finish last week?

Scent of Magic

Book 2 in the Healer series

by Maria V. Snyder

Amazon Synopsis:
As the last Healer in the Fifteen Realms, Avry of Kazan is in a unique position: in the minds of friends and foes alike, she no longer exists. Despite her need to prevent the megalomaniacal King Tohon from winning control of the Realms, Avry is also determined to find her sister and repair their estrangement. And she must do it alone, as Kerrick, her partner and sole confidant, returns to Alga to summon his country into battle.

Though she should be in hiding, Avry will do whatever she can to support Tohon's opponents. Including infiltrating a holy army, evading magic sniffers, teaching forest skills to soldiers and figuring out how to stop Tohon's most horrible creations yet: an army of the walking dead—human and animal alike and nearly impossible to defeat.
War is coming and Avry is alone. Unless she figures out how to do the impossible…again.

Read my review HERE.

Waiting On Wednesday

So, I've begun following ARC blogs, and one thing I stumbled across is Waiting On Wednesday, hosted by Breaking the Spine (click the 'Waiting on Wednesday' picture to go to Breaking the Spine), in which you post a book you're anxiously awaiting the release of.
My book for this Wednesday is a little goofy, because when I went to find it, I realized it was being released today!! So... what I'm really 'waiting' for is to get the heck out of work and go buy it!

The book I'm awaiting?

Spy Glass by Maria V. Snyder:

The third in the Opal series, set in the same world as the Poison Study/Yelena series... which I have already reviewed here. A seriously wonderful set of books.

A Heroin you will love...

I just got finished reading the first series by Maria V. Snyder... and I thought it was brilliant.
You will find the first two of these books in the YA section of the book store, although the content is very adult and I think the entire series could be in the Adult Fantasy section.

The three books, in order, are:

Poison Study
Magic Study
Fire Study

and they follow the life of Yelena, a criminal on death row who is offered the position of food taster for the country of Ixia's Commander.

Yelena is a wonderful, strong, real leading character.


Book Cover: 3/5
Book Title: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Characters: 5/5 (the reasons I keep coming back for more!)
Ending: 5/5